Seed is planted: Unseeded Oakes sophomore does improbable in winning state title

Caden Coleman came to the Fargodome this week with hopes of getting by his first-round match. Turns out he didn't stop climbing the ladder as he got to the top step of the awards stand.

The Oakes sophomore pulled off a rarity: an unseeded wrestler claiming an individual North Dakota Class B state championship Saturday before 5,342 fans that crowded the south end of the dome.

"I had no thoughts of making it to the final," he said. "I came in unseeded, so there was no pressure and I just did the best I could."

He wasn't the only Tornado to do so.

Oakes went an uncanny 5-for-5 in its championship matches and went on to claim the Class B individual team title for the third in a row.

It was a feel-good moment for the team after Friday's 34-33 defeat to South Border in the dual state championship.

"We couldn't do much about it so we decided to shrug that off," said senior Brady Coleman, who took the 130-pound title.

It meant two sets of brothers took four of the five championships. Eighth-grader Erik Loepp started things off winning at 103 and his older brother, Deven Loepp, took the 125-pound title.

"Those two are a great part of this," Brady Coleman said of the two younger brothers.

Junior Cody Voegeli capped off the orange crush, winning at 135 pounds, giving Watford City's Brady Lund his first loss of the year with a 5-2 decision. Oakes, which started the day with an 11.5-point lead on Carrington, finished with 52.5 team points to edge Lisbon by half a point.

"We came in here as the underdog, nobody thought we would finish in the top five because they said we lost so many seniors last year," Brady Coleman said. "So I guess we showed them."

Brady Coleman defeated Ryan Becker of Napoleon 6-2 in the final match. Erik Loepp edged Harvey's Carson Coble 3-2. Caden Coleman beat Colton Neumiller of New Salem 6-0 and Deven Loepp got by Lisbon's Dylan Urbach 3-1.

"We knew what we needed to do," Brady Coleman said. "I was a little disappointed last night being a senior, but I just came out here today and wrestled my match."

Lisbon's Nord stamps name in state history

Lisbon senior Michael Nord put himself into an elite class of North Dakota wrestlers. He won the 152-pound title and became just the 15th four-time state champion in North Dakota prep wrestling history and the seventh in Class B.

The last Class B wrestler to do so Kriss McCleary of Napoleon from 2005-08. Before that, it was Ben Imdieke of Linton from 2001-04.

"That's a good number," Nord said. "I was a five-time state champ."

Nord won titles in 2007 through 2009, but lost in the 145-pound final last year to Chris Bahm of Carrington.

"I think I went in overconfident," he said.

But a year of workouts ended on Saturday with a convincing 10-4 win over Sheldon Dewald of Napoleon. He finished his career 227-19, which included a 94-match winning streak that was stopped by Bahm.

"I just wanted to make sure it didn't happen again," Nord said.

Nord was one of two Lisbon titlists with Reed Huether winning the 189-pound title pinning Killdeer's Grady Houghton.

Nord was named Class B's Senior Athlete of the Year. Dwight Schilling of South Border was named the Class B Coach of the Year.

Forum reporter Jeff Kolpack can be heard on the Saturday Morning Sports Show, 9-11 a.m. on WDAY-AM (970). He can be reached at (701) 241-5546.

Kolpack's NDSU media blog can be found at www.areavoices.com/bisonmedia